High Cheese

In the end, the $10.25 million arbitration request Joe Blanton filed was likely little more than a negotiating ploy, an expensive hammer to hold over the Phillies heads as the sides hammered out a three-year, $24 million deal that was announced today.

Save for the usual caveats about pitchers and their arms, the pact is a promising one for the Phillies.

Here is a list of pitchers whose 2009 salary fell between the $8 million per year Blanton will average with his new deal and the $10.25 million he requested through arbitration:

See anybody you'd rather have? Lackey, of course, although he just signed a monster contract with the Red Sox. Washburn, perhaps. Kawakami had a good first year, but it was his first in the majors. Matsuzaka? Two solid years and one stinker halfway through a six-year, $52 million contract.

Eight million dollars does not go a long way when it comes to starting pitching that originated outside your own farm system. And while Blanton might not be a third starter on the level of Javier Vazquez or Cliff Lee, the Phillies are paying as much dependability as anything.

Consider:

Since Blanton's first full season in the majors in 2005, only six players have started more games since 2005: Derek Lowe (169), Bronson Arroyo (168), Danny Haren (168), Andy Pettitte (167), Barry Zito (167), Livan Hernandez (164). Tied with Blanton at 162 are Mark Buehrle, Doug Davis, C.C. Sabathia and Javier Vazquez.

Lowe made $15 million last year. Arroyo made $10.125. Haren made $7.5, but is signed to a four-year deal that has an average annual value of just over $11 million. Pettitte made $10.5 million. Zito made $18. Buehrle made $14.0. Davis made $8.75. Sabathia made $15.285. Vazquez made $11.5.

Consider:

In February of 2007, the Phillies signed Brett Myers to a three-year, $25.75 million deal.

Over the last five seasons, 37 pitchers have thrown at least 800 innings with an ERA+ of over 100 (ERA+, or adjusted ERA, takes into consideration ballpark and league average. An ERA of 100 is considered average):

Twenty-seven of those pitchers made more than $8 million last year.

Of the 10 who didn't, four were pitching under multi-year deals they signed prior to completing their fifth year of Major League service. Four, including Blanton, were under club control with less than five years of Major League service. The other three were Kyle Lohse, who was in the first year of a four-year, $41 million contract, retired HOFer Greg Maddux, and knuckleballer Tim Wakefield:

Here is how Blanton's numbers stack up with starting pitchers who have signed free agent contracts over the last two offseasons. There are four sets of stats: Contract terms, Performance in the year before the new contract, Performance over the three years prior, Performance over the five years prior.